1. The Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to biowaste containers. In more particular, the present invention relates to a multipart biowaste container for use in a surgical setting.
2. The Relevant Technology
A great amount of attention has been focused on the appropriate disposition of blood, tissue, and other biological materials that are produced in modern surgical settings. Much of this focus results from concerns regarding contamination, possible infection, and exposure to such materials, as well as bioethical considerations directed to proper disposition of human tissues.
As a result, a number of basins and other specialized receptacles for blood, tissue, and other biological materials have been developed. Typically, during a medical procedure such blood, tissue, and biological materials are deposited into specially designed containers and/or receptacles until the completion of the procedures. After the completion of the procedure, the attending staff can then quickly and readily identify blood, tissues, and other biological materials that require special handling or special disposal procedures. The attending staff can then simply discard of the entire container without the need to separately attend to individual biowaste elements.
Some biowaste containers suffer from a number of deficiencies. For example, one problem presented by such biowaste containers is that they must be sufficiently large to accommodate the volume of biowaste that is typically produced during a typical surgical procedure. As a result, the biowaste containers must either have a fairly large footprint or have a sufficient depth to accommodate the required amount of biological waste.
Due to the fact that surgical working surfaces available to hold the biological waste container must also accommodate a number of other surgical implements, biological waste containers covering a large surface area are typically impractical. As a result, a biological waste container covering a smaller surface area but having a greater depth relative to their overall size are typically provided in such surgical settings. While biological waste containers having a greater height relative to their overall size are more practical due to surgical area surface constraints, such waste containers can be somewhat cumbersome to use. Additionally, the greater height can make it difficult to reach other tools or implements located close to the biological waste container. In some circumstances, attempts to access implements positioned adjacent the biological waste container can even result in tipping of the biological waste container when inadvertently bumped or contacted by a practitioner during surgery.
The size of such biological waste containers can also be fairly cumbersome to ship and store due their overall size. This can be particularly problematic where the biological waste container includes a lid or other secondary member. To alleviate this problem, the lids are sometimes shipped in place on the biological waste container. During preparation for surgery, the surgical staff simply removes the lid and places it to the side until the end of surgery. While this alleviates some of the problems with storage and shipping of the lid member, it can be inconvenient to find a place to store the lid during surgery. After the surgery is completed it can be difficult to locate the lid in order to place it on biological waste container for disposal.
Some biological waste container designs utilize a lid that nests on the underside of the biological waste container. During the procedure the lid remains in contact with the biological waste container until the procedure is completed. The lid can then be removed from the bottom of the biological waste container and placed over the top of the biological waste container to secure the contents of the biological waste container during disposal. Unfortunately, where the biological waste container becomes somewhat full of blood, tissue or other biological materials, removal of the lid from beneath the biological waste container can result in inadvertent spillage or other issuance of such materials from the biological waste container. As a result of the various complications and limitations of existing biological waste containers practitioners are forced to select biological waste containers having the least number of deficiencies for the type of procedure being performed. However, this can be impractical due to the purchasing constraints and storage realities inherent in hospital and surgical center economics.